Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 18:51:30 -0400
From: Kevin Ivers
Subject: GOP Congress Moves Ahead on Ryan White CARE Act
LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Ivers
April 10, 2000 (202) 347-5306 x12
GOP CONGRESS MOVES AHEAD ON RYAN WHITE CARE ACT
Work Begins on Federal AIDS Program Reauthorization
(WASHINGTON) The Republican-controlled House and Senate have both
begun work on reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act, the federal
mechanism of support for local and state care and treatments programs
for people with HIV/AIDS. The bill, first sponsored by Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) and passed in 1990, was reauthorized in the 104th
Congress in 1996, and is up again for reauthorization this year, led
by Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT), chairman of the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Congressman Tom Coburn
(R-OK), vice-chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Health
and the Environment.
Over the course of its majority in Congress, the GOP leadership has
pushed through funding increases far above President Clinton's budget
requests each successive year since 1995. The 1996 reauthorization
responded to the changing face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, ensuring
greater equity in funding for rural areas and non-urban states. In
House and Senate proposals, released in recent days, Congress plans
to move more decisively in shaping the Ryan White CARE Act to address
the most pressing needs of people with HIV/AIDS over the next five
years -- putting priority in saving and extending lives over
preserving outdated and inefficient bureaucracies.
For detailed analysis by LCR of the GOP House and Senate Ryan White
proposals, visit the LCR website at http://www.lcr.org.
Log Cabin Republicans is the nation's largest gay Republican organization,
with state and local chapters nationwide, a full-time Washington office and
a federal political action committee.
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Log Cabin Republicans Kevin Ivers
(202) 347-5306 phone Director of Public Affairs
(202) 347-5224 fax http://www.lcr.org